Web page personalization

Abstract

Web pages may be dynamically generated in response to a web request from a client. The web request specifies a dynamic content resource that declares one or more server-side controls having personalizable properties. Personalization refers to the ability for server-side controls to save property values to persistent storage and is not necessarily limited to a user-specific data management. Personalization also refers to retrieving the property values from persistent storage when the server-side controls are instantiated in order to dynamically generate the web page reflecting the persistent personalization data. The personalized property values may also be output with the HTML data of the resulting page and sent to the client for display.

1 . A method of personalizing a web page using a server-side control at a web server responsive to a receipt of a request from a client, the request specifying a dynamic content resource containing a declaration of the server-side control, the method comprising: 
 extracting from a persistent personalization datastore personalization data associated with the server-side control;    creating the server-side control at the web server based on the declaration;    loading the personalization data into the server-side control; and    generating from the server-side control authoring language data defining the personalized web page that includes the personalization data associated with the server-side control.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 determining a personalization scope of the web server based on the dynamic content resource.    
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 determining a personalization scope of the web server based on the dynamic content resource and an identity of a user who sent the request.    
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the personalization data is stored in a personalization state responsive to the extracting operation, and the loading operation comprises: 
 extracting personalization data associated with the server side control from the personalization state; and    loading the extracted personalization data associated with the server-side control into the server-side control.    
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the web server has a shared personalization scope.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the web server has a user personalization scope.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the request is associated with a user, the personalization data is stored in a personalization state responsive to the extracting operation, and the loading operation comprises: 
 extracting personalization data associated with the user and the server side control from the personalization state; and    loading the extracted personalization data associated with the user and the server-side control into the server-side control, if the web server has a user personalization scope.    
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the extracting operation comprises: 
 deserializing the personalization data extracted from the persistent personalization datastore; and    storing the deserialized data into a personalization state object in association with one or more server-side control identifiers.    
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the storing operation comprises: 
 storing the deserialized data into the personalization state object in association with one or more server-side control identifiers and one or more user identities.    
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 sending the authoring language data defining the personalized web page to the client.    
   
   
       11 . A computer program product encoding a computer program for personalizing a user interface page using a server-side control of a user interface server responsive to a receipt of a request from a client, the request specifying a dynamic content resource containing a declaration of the server-side control, the computer process comprising: 
 creating the server-side control of the user interface server based on the declaration;    loading the personalization data from a persistent personalization datastore into the server-side control; and    generating from the server-side control authoring language data defining the personalized user interface page that includes the personalization data associated with the server-side control.    
   
   
       12 . The computer program product of  claim 11  wherein the computer process further comprises: 
 determining a personalization scope of the user interface server based on the dynamic content resource.    
   
   
       13 . The computer program product of  claim 11  wherein the computer process further comprises: 
 determining a personalization scope of the user interface server based on the dynamic content resource and an identity of a user who sent the request.    
   
   
       14 . The computer program product of  claim 11  wherein the personalization data is stored in a personalization state responsive to the extracting operation, and the loading operation comprises: 
 extracting personalization data associated with the server side control from the personalization state; and    loading the extracted personalization data associated with the server-side control into the server-side control.    
   
   
       15 . The computer program product of  claim 14  wherein the user interface server has a shared personalization scope.  
   
   
       16 . The computer program product of  claim 14  wherein the user interface server has a user personalization scope.  
   
   
       17 . The computer program product of claim  111  wherein the request is associated with a user, the personalization data is stored in a personalization state responsive to the extracting operation, and the loading operation comprises: 
 extracting personalization data associated with the user and the server side control from the personalization state; and    loading the extracted personalization data associated with the user and the server-side control into the server-side control, if the user interface server has a user personalization scope.    
   
   
       18 . The computer program product of  claim 11  wherein the extracting operation comprises: 
 deserializing the personalization data extracted from the persistent personalization datastore; and    storing the deserialized data into a personalization state object in association with one or more server-side control identifiers.    
   
   
       19 . The computer program product of  claim 18  wherein the storing operation comprises: 
 storing the deserialized data into the personalization state object in association with one or more server-side control identifiers and one or more user identities.    
   
   
       20 . The computer program product of  claim 11  further comprising: 
 sending the authoring language data defining the personalized user interface page to the client.    
   
   
       21 . The computer program product of  claim 11  further comprising: 
 extracting personalization manager data from the persistent personalization datastore to initialize a state of the personalization module, wherein the personalization manager manages personalization of server-side controls and properties; and    loading the personalization data into at least one property of the personalization manager.    
   
   
       22 . The computer program product of  claim 11  wherein the server-side control contains a personalizable property identifying a dynamically added control.  
   
   
       23 . A method of personalizing a web page using a server-side control at a web server responsive to a receipt of a request from a client, the request specifying a dynamic content resource containing a declaration of the server-side control, the method comprising: 
 creating the server-side control at the web server based on the declaration;    loading client-provided data extracted from the request into a personalizable property of the server-side control;    storing the client-side data from the personalizable property into a persistent personalization datastore in association with an identifier of the server-side control, the personalization datastore being associated with the dynamic content resource; and    generating from the server-side control authoring language data defining a personalized web page that includes the client-provided data.    
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 23  further comprising: 
 determining a personalization scope of the web server based on the dynamic content resource.    
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 23  further comprising: 
 determining a personalization scope of the web server based on the dynamic content resource and an identity of a user who sent the request.    
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 23  wherein a personalization state object exists to store the personalization data and the storing operation comprises: 
 extracting the client-provided data from the personalizable property of the server side control; and    loading the extracted client-provided data into the personalization state object.    
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 26  wherein the web server has a shared personalization scope.  
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 26  wherein the web server has a user personalization scope.  
   
   
       29 . The method of  claim 23  wherein the storing operation further comprises: 
 serializing the client-provided data extracted from the personalizable property of the server side control; and    storing the serialized client-provided data into the persistent personalization datastore.    
   
   
       30 . The method of  claim 23  further comprising: 
 sending the authoring language data defining the personalized web page to the client.    
   
   
       31 . A computer program product encoding a computer program for personalizing a user interface page using a server-side control of a user interface server responsive to a receipt of a request from a client, the request specifying a dynamic content resource containing a declaration of the server-side control, the computer process comprising: 
 creating the server-side control of a user interface server based on the declaration;    loading client-provided data extracted from the request into a personalizable property of the server-side control;    storing the client-side data from the personalizable property into a persistent personalization datastore; and    generating from the server-side control authoring language data defining a personalized user interface page that includes the client-provided data.    
   
   
       32 . The computer program product of  claim 31  wherein the computer process further comprises: 
 determining a personalization scope of the user interface server based on the dynamic content resource.    
   
   
       33 . The computer program product of  claim 31  wherein the computer process further comprises: 
 determining a personalization scope of the user interface server based on the dynamic content resource and an identity of a user who sent the request.    
   
   
       34 . The computer program product of  claim 31  wherein a personalization state object exists to store the personalization data and the storing operation comprises: 
 extracting the client-provided data from the personalizable property of the server side control; and    loading the extracted client-provided data into the personalization state object.    
   
   
       35 . The computer program product of  claim 34  wherein the user interface server has a shared personalization scope.  
   
   
       36 . The computer program product of  claim 34  wherein the user interface server has a user personalization scope.  
   
   
       37 . The computer program product of  claim 31  wherein the storing operation further comprises: 
 serializing the client-provided data extracted from the personalizable property of the server side control; and    storing the serialized client-provided data into the persistent personalization datastore.    
   
   
       38 . The computer program product of  claim 31  further comprising: 
 extracting personalization manager data from the persistent personalization datastore to initialize a state of the personalization module, wherein the personalization manager manages personalization of server-side controls and properties; and    loading the personalization data into at least one property of the personalization manager.    
   
   
       39 . The computer program product of  claim 31  wherein the server-side control contains a personalizable property identifying a dynamically added control.  
   
   
       40 . A web server for personalizing a web page using a server-side control at a web server responsive to a receipt of a request from a client, the request specifying a dynamic content resource containing a declaration of the server-side control, the web server comprising: 
 a provider module that extracts from a persistent personalization datastore personalization data associated with the server-side control;    a page factory that instantiates the server-side control at the web server based on the declaration;    a personalization loading module that loads the personalization data into the server-side control; and    a rendering module that generates from the server-side control authoring language data defining the personalized web page that includes the personalization data associated with the server-side control.